Hillary Clinton Wants To See More Women In Politics

Hillary Clinton wants to see more women in politics despite it being a difficult career path. That is why she has initiated the Women in Public Service Project, a program intended to increase the number of women in leadership. In June 2012, the State Department will start an annual summer institute to train women leaders from around the world in cooperation with the so-called Seven Sisters colleges, which include Barnard in New York City, Bryn Mawr in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and Wellesley, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. This summer 40 women from the Middle East and North Africa will go to her alma mater, Wellesley College, to gain skills in public speaking, coalition building, networking and mentorship. “It’s about expanding the pool of talented people to help tackle our biggest problems,” she said.

The Secretary of State spoke about this at the State Department in Washington this week. She said she knows “how daunting it is” for women to consider a public-service career, yet “we need women at every level of government from executive mansions and foreign ministries to municipal halls and planning commissions, from negotiation international disarmament treaties to debating town ordinances.” Even Clinton herself admits she was scared when she was considering running for Senate. According to Bloomberg, she was undecided until she was speaking at an event in New York City to promote a documentary on women in sports. The woman who introduced Clinton to the crowd leaned over as she shook Clinton’s hand and whispered the title of the documentary to her: “Dare to compete, Mrs. Clinton, dare to compete.” “It was one of the best decisions of my life,” Clinton said.